The present invention relates to improvements in apparatus for cutting stacks of overlapping sheets which are made of paper, cardboard, paperboard, plastic material and/or metallic material. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which employ so-called guillotine type cutting or severing machines wherein a knife holder and a hold-down device for stacks are located above the cutting station and are caused to descend so that the hold-down device holds the sheets of the stack or stacks against stray movements and the knife on the holder thereupon subdivides each stack at the cutting station into smaller stacks.
Commonly owned European Pat. No. 0 056 874 discloses an apparatus wherein stacks of overlapping sheets of paper or other material are subdivided by a guillotine type knife. The arrangement is such that the stacks which are to be severed are moved to desired positions by a manually operated angled tool so that they abut suitable stops. Such mode of operating the apparatus is reliable; however, the apparatus requires constant attention especially if the orientation of stacks is to be changed upon completion of each cutting step. The European patent already discloses automatic positioning of a stack in the longitudinal direction and the formation of a gap which serves to permit an aligning device to move from a retracted position beneath the support for stacks to a raised position in which the aligning device can move one or more stacks against the device which feeds the stack or stacks to the cutting station. The feeding device extends along the full width of the cutting machine. The alignment or orientation which is achieved with such aligning device is wasted, in part, because each cutting step is preceded by a renewed shifting of the stack or stacks.